Characterizing the water extremes of the new century in the US South-west: A comprehensive assessment from state-of-the-art climate model projections

Aleix Serrat-Capdevila, Juan B. Valdes, Francina Dominguez, Seshadri Rajagopal

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The impact of climate change scenarios in the hydrology of the Verde River basin (Arizona) is analyzed using an ensemble of downscaled climate model results, SPI analysis, and two hydrologic models of different complexity. To assess model uncertainty, 47 ensemble members combining simulations from 16 global climate models and 3 emission scenarios were used to provide an uncertainty envelope in the hydrologic variables. The analysis shows that simple lumped models and more complex distributed runoff models can yield similar results. Results show that under all scenarios, the distribution functions of hydrologic states will shift towards lower values and droughts will progressively become more frequent, longer and more intense.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)152-171
Number of pages20
JournalInternational Journal of Water Resources Development
Volume29
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • climate change
  • drought
  • hydrology
  • uncertainty
  • water resources management

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Development
  • Water Science and Technology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Characterizing the water extremes of the new century in the US South-west: A comprehensive assessment from state-of-the-art climate model projections'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this